Turning Gears
by Hollie47
Summary: Happy goes off at Toby without any reason to and with Paige's help she comes to realise her true feelings.


"Stupid piece of shit!" Happy angrily exclaimed as she threw the hammer she was using across the room; the loud brutal sound of metal hitting concrete echoing throughout the warehouse.

"What did the hammer ever do to you?" Toby asked, walking over and picking it up. "I thought you said tools can never let you down?"

"Shut up, Toby," Happy replied, ignoring the man.

"From what I can tell you're more aggressive than usual which means you either had a fight with someone here and since it wasn't me, it would most likely be Walter or Paige, someone brought up your past with you, most likely Agent Gallo or last but not least, you're on your period," Toby stated matter of factly as he analysed the woman in front of him.

"You know what, fuck you Toby, I don't have to deal with any of your shit," Happy almost yelled.

"I'm going to go with a combination of all three," he muttered under his breath. "You do know that if you want to talk I'm here, I am a shrink after all."

"Go shove your shrink-ness up your arse," Happy retorted, almost knocking Toby out of the way as she stormed past him.

"You can always use me as a punching bag too if you'd like," Toby called out after her, hearing a door bang shut.

Resting her head against the cool door of the bathroom, Happy tried to control her breathing and get her emotions into check. A simple piece of metal had set her off and she didn't expect to take it out on Toby. It wasn't his fault that she had had a really bad morning after running into a bunch of men who thought women were nothing other than a play toy.

Walking over to the sink, she turned the tap on and let the cold water run over her hands. The sound was calming to her, it reminded her of the video tape she had but lost of her mother sitting by a river and reading.

Splashing her face with the water, she wiped her eyes and stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her skin was paler than usual, she had the slightest look of bags under her eyes and there looked to be something in them but she didn't know what.

"Why do I feel so bad for?" she softly asked herself, sitting down on the closed toilet lid; her thoughts running a million miles a minute.

"_Is it because of Toby? Or was it those jerks from this morning? Why do feelings have to rear their ugly head at the most unpredictable times?"_ she silently asked herself. _"I think I'm feeling bad, bad for yelling at Toby. Oh God, why?"_

Sighing into her hands, she didn't know what to think. Jumping slightly as a knock came from the other side of the door she sat as still as she could.

"Happy are you okay in there, I heard you yelling at Toby. Would you like to let me in to talk?" she heard Paige ask.

Taking a second to gather her thoughts, she got up and let the woman in.

"Now, are you okay?" Paige asked, locking the door.

"I really don't know," Happy answered honestly, hoping that Paige would be able to help her distinguish her feelings. She hadn't know the woman for long but at times like these she needed all the advice she could get.

"Do you want to tell me how you're feeling, maybe I'll know what's wrong. I'm no shrink but I am female. We apparently have a sixth sense about these things," Paige smiled, hoping that Happy would speak to her.

"I don't know how I'm feeling, that's the problem," Happy replied, feeling frustrated, the one feeling apart from anger she knew.

"Then tell me how your day went and what led to you yelling at Toby."

"Okay, to make it quick, I went out this morning to get breakfast as I wanted a change of scenery. I had breakfast and on the way back here, I took the back streets and ran into a group of guys, one of them groped me, I elbowed him in the face and I got out of there. I got back here and began to work on my various projects. A piece of metal wouldn't flatten out so I threw the hammer across the room and then Toby came over and was being the jackass he usually is and I lost it at him from reading me," Happy blurted out, wanting to feel like her normal self again.

"Oh that's a horrible start to the morning. Obviously you're physically okay but when the guy groped you, did you feel anything other than anger?"

"Um, maybe?"

"To me it sounds like after the anger dissipated you felt vulnerable since those guys got the upper hand and you were taking your feelings out on the metal. If you don't mind me asking have you got any feelings for Toby? It could explain why you took it out on him and no one else," Paige asked, treading as lightly as she could.

"I have the feeling of wanting to slap the smirk off his face and wring his neck when he does something stupid and unsafe."

"And what are you feeling now about Toby?" Paige asked, noticing the mechanic slightly blushing when talking about the man.

"I don't know, I guess I maybe feel bad for yelling at him and almost knocking him out of my way," Happy admitted, looking at her feet.

"In all honesty, this is probably going to get me killed but I think you like Toby and he likes you," Paige said, knowing what the signs of two people who like each other are.

"Hold on, I don't like Toby, not like that," Happy replied really quickly. "What makes you think he likes me?" she added after a few seconds.

Smiling to herself Paige looked the other woman in the eyes. "You can just see it radiating from him. He's protective of you, he never lets you get harmed, he thinks everything you do is hot, he looks at you with that look in his eyes which screams love but he just doesn't know how to read you or to tell you how he feels without you thinking that he is joking," Paige said, seeing realisation dawn upon Happy.

"I never realised until now..." Happy trailed off, staring blankly at the door.

"Happy how do you think you'd feel if Toby wasn't here anymore?" Paige asked, trying to read the woman's feelings.

"I can't even think about it, without Toby here I don't know, I'm so confused, I don't think I'd be able to function properly," Happy admitted, rubbing her hands over her face.

"Let's go down stairs and do a little experiment," Paige said, opening the door and exiting through it.

"What little experiment are you talking about, Paige?" Happy asked, stopping behind the taller woman on the staircase.

"Toby is over there, look at him real good and tell me what you think," Paige whispered, raising her eyebrow with the do not argue with me look.

"Well, he's tall, his jeans are fading, he has a nice butt, his posture is good, he always wears that stupid hat, he's reading two books at once, I like that brown shirt on him and kind of want to rip it off him and..."

"Oh my God, you like Toby," Paige said, dragging Happy back up the stairs.

"How can you tell that?" Happy asked, confused.

"Did you not just hear yourself say that you want to rip his shirt off him?"

"Oh God, I did say that and oh God, I think I do like him. Just looking at him makes my heart beat faster and my palms sweat. Why did I not notice this until now? I'm such an idiot."

"You're not an idiot, go talk to him and maybe apologise for yelling at him, see if that makes you feel anything different," Paige suggested, watching Happy give in.

Wiping her palms on her pants she walked over to Toby and cleared her throat.

"Back for round two already?" he asked, putting his books down.

"No, I came to apologise for yelling at you when you did nothing wrong. I'm sorry I took my anger out on you and I'll try not to let it happen again," she said, turning to walk away.

Feeling a soft hand on her wrist she turned around and stared directly into Toby's brown eyes. "Something is obviously bothering you and I want to help you, I hate seeing you angry at everything and bottling it up until it explodes like a volcano eruption. What's wrong Happy?" Toby softly asked; his voice laced with concern.

Taking a deep breath in, Happy realised how much he did really care and it made her feel light headed. "I just had a really bad morning walk and bumped into a group of guys, nothing more."

"Did they hurt you? If they did I'll hunt them down and kill them with my own bare hands," Toby said, giving the woman in front of him a once over.

"They didn't hurt me, I was just a little upset and still am," she admitted, feeling Toby pull her into a hug.

Resting her head on Toby's chest, she listened to his heart beating as she calmed down slightly.

"What are you thinking?" Toby asked after a few minutes, brushing back a wild strand of black hair.

"That we're like two gears, always moving in sync and when we're fighting it feels like those gears are missing a beat and instead of smoothly running off of one another they are grinding, creating friction and disrupting the alignment of the machine. I don't like it Toby, I don't like it when we fight. I hate to admit it but I need you," Happy replied, not moving a muscle as she waited for a response.

"I hate it when we fight too. I know you may not want to hear this but I have to say it. You mean the world to me and without you by my side I feel incomplete. I love you, and I don't know what to do about it," Toby said, rubbing small circles on Happy's shoulder.

Moving back from Toby's warm embrace Happy looked him in the eye and saw the sincerity he was showing her. Her heart skipped a beat as a warm feeling flooded it. "I think I love you too," she softly admitted, not knowing if she had said it aloud or not.

Leaning in, Toby softly captured Happy's lips with his own and gently kissed her, trying to convey everything he felt into the one gesture.

Pulling back for air, Happy shyly smiled at Toby before resting her head on his chest once again, hearing his heart beating faster than before.

"It's about time you two got together, it was inevitable," Ralph stated as he walked out of the room with a juice box in hand, leaving both adults stunned.


End file.
